That is a wonderful heart warming story. Thank you so much for sharing and take care.

Oh, that is so sweet.

You write so well I was picturing you and your family and all the steps involved in this wonderful episode. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Lovely story! I am so sorry for your loss. :(

Shannon, this is our favorite spot in the world. Did you go anywhere near Packer Lake? Up toward the lookout tower?

When it's my time, I want to be spread right next to your beautiful dog. Thanks for sharing your moving story. I really had a wonderful visual.

I'm sorry for your loss.
I have my Shepard's ashes; she's been gone 24 years.
I still can't let go of them.
When my dad passed, she was in the casket with him for the viewing. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that were shocked to see I still had her. lol
My dad's ashes sit next to hers now. It's what he wanted.

With your DD not ready, I might have suggested you keep some of the ashes until she was ready to say goodbye.

The spot sounds beautiful.

Shannon what a lovely tribute.. and memory to hold close. Thank you for sharing.

Shannon, thanks for sharing....
[I have both my "boys" ashes in wooden urns ...4yrs/2yrs
respectively....]
I can certainly empathize with you and your family.
We had 13/10 yrs with our Golden & Yellow Lab

Enjoy your new pup!

Thank you for sharing such a loving "love" story, I felt as though I was there too.
Susan

Golddust- It was actually Carr-Feeley. When we took him there in 95 we went all the way to Milk lake. We got a late start this time and with the kids we did not want to hike too long so we only went two miles in.

We have been doing a lot of day trips checking out places to camp more rural so pup can practice running free and returning on command. He had his first campout up at Sterling. There is a free area that used to be a real campground. Has portapotties and the areas are marked quite well but you can pull in anywhere you like. We went a little deep into woods and had a blast. We like Sardine but cannot take dog within 100yds? or so of water so we would have to stay at one of the primitives up the road and dh would have to go alone to Sardine. Last year we drove all around up there and fell head over heals. We took our huge ram 1500 truck up the logger road above emerald lake. We did not make it up to the lookout tower. Truck was just too huge to go that far for me.

We spend vacation time down at Convict Lake and drove our new jeep up the 4x4 trail to laurel lakes. We did not have pup because we continued to Utah and they do not allow dogs in National Parks. We plan to go back to Convict with him though later on.

His first big adventure was the long bumpy road to Bowman. Talk about a road needing some pot holes filled. It was really pretty up there. Once we aired down the tires it was much more pleasant. Doggy did not mind. Top down and ears flapping in the wind. What more could a pup want.

It is amazing how much love a dog, or even a cat, can bring to our lives. This pup has been so much more work than our first buddy. Temperment is so much stronger. And being 17 yrs since we have had to raise a pup this has been a long 9 months. Dh is really having fun taking him to obedience classes. Due to schedules I took our first buddy and that was not good. He did fine but really needed my dh. This pup knows who his alpha is and they are really enjoying the process. Our first was an american with showdog parents. He naturally pranced and was so sweet but did have major separation anxiety when we ever parted. This one is a german who has an intense prey drive- just ask the chipmunk he nearly caught last weekend in the woods. He is one of the top jumpers in class so far and dh really looks forward to doing agility. He would do good with protection training but that is not my big thing. Dh would like to get the shutzen, whatever thingy. He has potential.

I still have my Kiki girl's ashes. She passed a few years ago. Indoor kitty so I think she will stay with me until I pass. She was my heart and soul. I miss her meow so much. Having her spend her last night in my lap, letting out one last meow which she had not done in weeks, purrrrr love until the end. I could fit her ashes box inside the box of my shephards. She was tiny. But then again he was huge.

DD seems fine with the weekend. She will be glad she went but I will never make her feel bad for not being able to participate. Being there was important enough.

I started a shadow box for my dh's office. It is our buddy's collar with the tags dangling down. Inside the circle of the collar I am going to put the picture we took that day at the lake. It is dh's favorite. It is of him and his buddy-best-buddy sitting on a huge rock beside the lake. I will wait a while to give it to him, dh is a pretty quiet guy and now would be too soon.

Thanks for all the lovely comments, it truly was a love story to share.

Shannon, I could feel myself there with you all. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. What a lovely tribute to your beloved buddy. There is no love like theirs. I know he was there with you, too, wishing he could run along with his family as usual.

Bless all the animals of our world, and give thanks for the wonderful contribution our pets make to ours, with all their unconditional love, companionship, and devotion.

That's a wonderful story. I think I'll share it with my husband. He has 5 different containers with our dogs ashes on his bookcase. I'm always afraid one of them will end up on the floor. We have a place in the PA mountains and I suggested that it might be nice to spread their ashes in the upper meadow under the huge maple tree. It's a beautiful spot, we go there frequently but I'm not sure he's ready yet.

Shannon! I used to drive my Dad's homemade tractor on the back road from my house to Spaulding and Bowman Lake. My dad fished Spaulding, Ruker and Bowman Lake in his homemade fishing boat. Yes, those roads do need some repairs. I grew up in Washington township, off of Hwy 20. It's at the base of 'your' mountain range. Have you been there?

Ever been to the Sierra Buttes via either Hwy 49 (from my side of the neighborhood) or I-80 to Hwy 88 (your side of the neighborhood). Great day hiking area! If you haven't been there, I'll send you a link to my photo album to help you decide if it's your cup of tea.

How fun! Guys, Shannon and I likely live about a half hour apart. Since we're both rural, it's exciting to meet here.

It has been about three weeks and dh took our new Tank for another hike, this time up to Milk Lake- for Golddust. It is just past where our buddy's final resting place is. DH says the rock is still there but the poem had blown away. He picked it up and put it back. He said he and Tank went up there to visit our other buddy. It really has given my dh a special way to honor his best pal. And it is such a beautiful place to hike. Black and white granite everywhere and lakes with the reflections of the blue sky and mountains.

Of course he took a ton of pics of Tank. One that we are going to blow up is a closeup. In his eyes you can see the reflection of the lake, mountains and sky. It is really cool. I am going to go through our old picks of our buddy from that first hike and see if I can find a similar one. Would be really cool to have each pic frames beside each other.

Golddust- I will ask dh about the area. We have talked about doing the Buttes but never really have pursued it. Will do though.

OK...wipin' my eyes again!

These things are tougher than I thought they'd be...

Shannon01, Glad you shared the nice story!

I don't know if I could deal with having the "ashes" around. I'd rather "set Her free" in some corny sense I think...
(referring to our Golden, Sashi)

Faron

I had been in the process of making a shadow box of our buddy's collar. I positioned it with the tags hanging down to show his name. I enlarged our favorite picture from that special trip we took when he was a pup, taken within feet of his final resting place, and cut it in a circle and placed it inside the circle made by the collar. I was going to give it to my dh for his birthday but decided just placing it on a shelf in his office for him to "notice" was much more subtle. Sure enough, this evening I heard my dh say "hey, when did you make this?". He loved it. It was a little high up from his seat so he thought it was just a red circle around the picture. Then I pointed out the tags, then he realized it was the collar. He REALLY liked it. He told me it was going to make him cry if I didn't stop making him look at it.

We made the mistake of watching Marley and Me this weekend with the kids at sleepovers. Dh warned me he might sob like a baby. When it got to the end there were too many moments that brought back all the sorrow from our last days with our buddy. Luckily he passed on his own, but I think secretly dh wishes he could have had that last moment to say goodbye. Kinda weird I know but I understand. When the saddest part started to play in the movie I told dh I didn't want to watch it anymore, it was too hard. But we did. It was like reliving too much.

My sis has a female lab who is doing great but just a little wobbly, hard of hearing and a bit slow. The end is not too far away, but she is about 11. The other day I stopped over and when I went to see her she lit up. Really made my sis feel good to see her so up and about. But as for the movie I think I need to tell my sis to not watch it.

There was one funny thing about the movie. Our first shephard chewed up nothing I can recall until he was much older. Barfed up lots of barbie outfits and pooped out only the blue walmart bags if he could find them. Our new shephard eats everything he can. He has learned the german command for drop it so that has helped. After watching the Red Box rental my dh was looking to return the stack he had got. Marley the Second decided to take the stack off the desk and drop them all over the floor. Then he took Valkyrie? and chew up the case. I found him just as he was about to actually bite the disc. Dh was able to return it to the kiosk luckily. Bad Marley the Second. So now we call him Marley the Second.